Grievances unreported: Why many companies show zero employee complaints

According to recent data, 944 companies in India reported no health and safety complaints, and 920 companies disclosed no complaints about working conditions

When it comes to raising concerns about working conditions, health, and safety in the workplace, a vast majority of employees across India’s leading companies are staying silent. According to Business Responsibility & Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) data from Prime Database, the top 1,062 listed companies in India received over 220,000 complaints related to health and safety and nearly 75,000 complaints about working conditions in FY23. However, despite the staggering numbers, the complaints are heavily concentrated within a small group of companies.
 

An overwhelming 944 companies reported zero complaints related to health and safety, while 920 companies disclosed receiving no complaints about working conditions.

Disparities in complaint handling

Interestingly, the bulk of complaints were concentrated among a few companies, which reported almost 100 per cent resolution of the grievances filed. This suggests that while some companies are addressing these issues proactively, others may be under-reporting or failing to create a safe space for employees to voice concerns.

From FY23, top listed companies have been mandated to disclose complaints from employees and workers under the BRSR framework. However, with many companies not sharing data from the previous year, a year-on-year comparison is not possible.

“This is a serious concern of employees not raising their grievances as it is unlikely that there would be zero complaints,” Bino Paul, professor at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, was quoted as saying by The Economic Times.

Challenges in grievance management

“The evolution of industrial relations and personnel management into human resource management has led to a strategy leaning towards maximising profits for the shareholders and undermining the autonomy of human resources. This is a concern since employees are a key stakeholder and there remains no neutral, autonomous body that deals with labour issues,” Paul added.

The issue may also stem from how complaints are managed within organisations. “Complaints are not always systematically captured across companies,” said Nagaraj Krishnan, managing director of Aparajitha Corporate Services. “Grievances are often treated as non-issues unless they escalate to a critical level or attract unwanted attention,” he said.

Vikram Shroff, partner at AZB & Partners and expert in employment and labour laws, suggested that the zero-complaint figures could also be attributed to the compliance measures companies have adopted. “Post-Covid, many employers have been proactive in implementing health and safety measures. Some companies go to great lengths to feature in ‘best employer’ surveys as part of their recruitment and retention strategy, which can help reduce or eliminate workplace complaints,” he told The Economic Times.